When Dark meets Dark
by Kira Nightshade
Summary: People are supposed to yell or scream or at least be in total confusion when a six-teen year old shows up on your roof in the middle of the night. This one didn't. Rated T due to violence. And other stuff I guess.
1. Chapter 1

_Hey everyone! First of all, thank you for reading my first story :) It was actually a base for this long story I'm working on here. I haven't really decided on the title… You are welcome to PM or review for any suggestions! _

_So anyways, enjoy :) _

Chapter 1: Mission Failed… Kind of.

Nico stared at the girl in front of him. She had long silver hair shinning in the moonlight, her golden eyes shimmering like drachmas, but the strangest part was her mysterious smile. It looked like she already knew what he was going here, and who he was. But that was impossible. She gently stroked the black American shorthair cat next to her, her eyes still on Nico as if she was deciding how to deal with him. This was even weirder, because most people would start screaming or yelling or at least be in total confusion when a sixteen year old shows up on your roof in the middle of the night.

She was wearing a dark loose T-shirt, a black tank top underneath and a black mini skirt. This was probably the only person who ever "out-wore" him in dark clothing. The only things not black on her was a silver cross belt was strapped across her waist, with a golden star pinned on the left. For some reason he knew that the star was not a usual star. Another similar but slightly smaller star was placed on a hairclip that was holding back her long hair that kept getting into her eyes. She had a dark, magical aura that he couldn't quite identify. _Probably Hecate_, he thought, although something in the back of his mind told him this girl was stronger than that.

"So?" She asked, finally, impatient to wait any longer.

He was stunned for a while. Her voice brought a certain feeling he couldn't quite describe, it was light, gentle, but somehow… dark. "I'm Nico di Angelo," he said, introducing himself, unsure of really what to do. This was his first mission to bring back a half-blood, usually other kids do this because, well, his appearance isn't really particularly encouraging.

"Melanie Nightingale," she held out her hand, which was decorated with four or five jingling silver bracelets. He took it, and felt her tremble at his touch. He half smiled, the sorry kind, and she nodded to assure that she was ok.

"Nightingale? Like, THE Nightingale? The nurse who ran around and-"

"And saved lives of hundreds of people? Yes. Florence Nightingale was my ancestor. She was a daughter of Asclepius." She said this casually, like it was something everyone knew about.

"So you know all about this demi-god Greek gods stuff?"

"Pretty much. She left a lot of letters explaining, so basically our whole family knows."

Nico raised an eye brow, "And you haven't been attacked by any monsters?"

"Of course I have."

"This is either very good or very terrible," he concluded, "That's how weird things are."

"Is that so?"

Nico just nodded, "So who's your Godly Parent?"

"I don't… know." She frowned at that one.

"It's alright, um, we'll find out at camp."

"And why should I go with you?" she asked, the tone was almost like she was challenging him.

"Because it's the only place safe for demi-gods."

"But I think I'm living rather well like this."

"Not gonna be for long, old spirits are awakening," Nico sighed, "Plus we need as much troops as possible."

"That's not a good enough reason," she concluded, "But I'll go. Because I'm curious."

"So let's-"

"Wait, one last thing," she interrupted, "What about Pixie?" she nudged at the black cat beside her, which did not look very fairy-ish at all. The black eyes met his, and stared at him.

"Um, we can take her too I suppose." Nico replied, unable to stand the cat's eerie stare anymore.

"Ok then. So how do we get there?"

Nico grinned and held out his hand, "You're not afraid of the dark, are you?"

A wave of dizziness swept through Nico as he popped out of one of the shadows nearby, and he had to lean on to Melanie a little to steady himself. He should really stop shadow traveling this much. It drained too much of his energy. Melanie didn't seem to mind, as her midnight blue eyes started scanning the surroundings. They were in a huge forest, endless trees surrounded them, and a few curious glowing eyes were peeking from the bushes.

"Long Island, New York?" she asked.

Nico's eyes went wide open, and all the sleepiness snapped out of him, "How did you-"

"My senses are quite sharp in the night."

Nico clearly didn't take that as a great explanation, because his eyes were still full of confusion.

"Look," she sighed, "I don't know why and I don't know how, it's just-"

"It's ok," Nico interrupted, catching himself, "Just explain to Chiron after we get to the big house."

She nodded and faced the eerie glares in the forests again, "So do we fight our way out?"

"Not _we_, _I_ do." Nico stared at her like she was crazy, "You don't have any training. Besides, you don't even have a weapon."

"Oh yeah?" she smiled her mysterious smile, and took the star button off her silver belt, "Let's see about that."

Melanie absolutely adored Nico's expression as he saw her Star slowly growing into a full size celestial bronze sword.

"What is- How did you- " He stuttered, completely surprised by what was happening, "What is that-"

"RAWR!" A unknown monster suddenly plunged at Nico, when he realized what was happing, his hand immediately reached to his sword belt, but it was too late. The claws reached out at his face, so he turned and reached for his powers. He felt the earth responding to him, shaking, waiting to be released-

A shadow of silver flashed in front of him, and he felt a wave of hot blood splashed on his face. He opened his eyes, wiping the blood out of them with his sleeves. The monster that attacked him was now lying on the ground, lifeless, its body sliced right from the clawed hands that were outstretched at him to the tail, into two perfect congruent parts.

"Still think I can't fight?" Melanie grinned.

"We'll see girl," he replied, his tone clearly amazed by what he saw, and drew out his Stygian Iron sword, "We'll see."

The fight was almost over. Pixie the cat has already disappeared to gods-know-where, but Melanie has assured him that it was okay, since she was a really smart cat.

Nico stabbed his sword at the monster that was coming at him, right in the forehead, and watched it explode into dust, adding to the already thick layer on the ground. He heard Melanie breathing heavily behind him.

"Not so easy huh, Princess?"

"I could say the same to you," she replied, eyeing at the rips and tears on his clothing, and raising her left hand to slice off a head of the monster that was lunging at her.

"Your situation is much worse than mine, actually." He examined her clothing. The dark T-shirt was already tore in half, falling off, the tank top inside was not too good either – there was a huge rip near the bottom, where blood was bleeding out. The mini skirt looked ok though. "How DO you even fight with a mini skirt?" he asked.

"I just do?" she said and shrugged her shoulders.

He wanted to ask something more, but then decided the topic would probably be embarrassing, so instead, "Oh." was all he said. But he still heard her chuckle as he turned and sliced through another monster that jumped at him.

"Almost done?" Melanie asked as she finished off one of the few remaining monsters.

"Yeah, I got the last one," Nico replied, as he raised his sword preparing to defend himself from the only remaining monster that was dashing towards him. But just when he was about to bring his sword down to cut off the creatures head, its yellow devilish eyes went wide open and it just turned and run. "What the Hades-"

"Something's wrong," Melanie interrupted, her golden eyes shimmering with worry. She looked nervously around the forest, as if she was trying to pick out the source of danger.

The night was suddenly silent, and the only thing they could hear was each other's heavy breathing.

Nico started, "Do you think-"

That's when the long howl broke through the silence. That was also when Nico spun around and found himself facing a mouth full of disgusting rotten sharp teeth. And last, that was when Nico realized that he would die before he got the chance to stab the monster with his sword or use any of his underground powers.

He heard Melanie scream and force knocked him so hard that he fell flat on the ground. He felt the grass brush across his cheek, and he knew some part of him was bleeding. The ringing in his head was so loud that he couldn't hear anything but his own heat beat and the feel of blood rushing through his veins. Something clear and sparkling flew across him but he couldn't recognize what it was. His blood was draining from him, slowly, slowly… And then the world went blank.

Melanie screamed when she saw the two-headed hound bared his teeth and lunged at Nico. It just popped out of nowhere so suddenly. One minute it was all silence and the next the word was messed up.

She was too far away to help. What can she do? There had to be a way. There HAD to. Anything, anything! Suddenly she felt something hot against her forehead, almost burning.

The hair clip.

But it was just a hair clip! What could it do? It wasn't magical like her sword was. It was just some ordinary ten dollar hair clip bought from a random shop in some random place. But then she remembered the way it "pulled" at her when she saw it. Maybe there was something special about this thing.

It was a maybe, but it was her only chance. She yanked it off her hair and threw it as hard as she could at the creature.

To her surprise, the shape shimmered and the tiny star hair clip shimmered and turned into a sparkling crystal dagger. It drew right into the creature's neck and knocked it sideways.

But not sideways enough. The left paw sliced through Nico's body and sent him crashing down on the floor, hard. She rushed at Nico, wanting to get him out of there before the monster could stand up again. But she wasn't fast enough. The hound staggered and managed to hold itself up, the dagger still around ten centimeters deep in his neck. It raised its paws again, ready to bring it down on the boy.

"NOOO!" She screamed and focused on the dagger, pushing all her anger on the creature. Nico can't die. He just can't.

Something dark enveloped the dagger, the hound took a few steps back and stared at it in surprise. It shivered, as if something icy cold was pressed upon its skin. Then the dagger started to vibrate like crazy, and blood kept leaking out from its body. The monster panicked and tried to reach the dagger with one of its heads to pull it out, but it was too late.

The dagger exploded. The creature howled in pain as its left head got blasted, hard, and ripped itself right from the middle. A waterfall of blood was now pouring out, right at the large tear between its head. The creature raised both of its head and stared at Melanie. There was so much hate in those devilish red eyes that Melanie trembled and her knees couldn't hold her up anymore as she collapsed on the ground. Then it turned and disappeared into the forest.

A few tree nymphs came out from the forest and rushed to Camp to call for help. Some stared in horror at Nico. A few tried to talk to Melanie but she just kept shivering and her lifeless eyes couldn't seem to get in focus.

A soft breeze of wind blew gently through the woods, sending the monster dusts away. There were merely any signs of battle left, except the girl with the blank stare kneeling on the ground and the boy lying in a pool of blood.

_Author's Notes:_

_Sorry for my poor grammar :/ Didn't really have time to fix them but since someone was waiting for my story I decided to upload it first :) _

_Apparently the idea of the hairclip was stolen from Rachel's plastic blue hairbrush XD_

_Might be a while before the second chapter comes out because I'm a little stuck on how it should begin._

_Feel welcome to point out any mistakes or give any suggestions on the story!_

_And um, one of my friends said it wasn't very clear, but Nico and Melanie shadow traveled to Camp Half Blood's forest._


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thank all of you who added this story to their favorite/story alert :) Although I really need reviews to get some ideas and improve my stories…

Anyways. Here's the second chapter. I know it's short, but I am currently caught up in a few Unit Test and AP take-homes, I hardly get anytime to read or write. There's not a lot of progress in this chapter… a little Percy/Annabeth included.

Chapter 2

Percy bumped into a nymph as he was rushing into the forest.

"Sorry," he said as he quickly stood up and helped the nymph up, "Juniper?"

"Percy?" Juniper looked up from the ground with a horrified expression, "You need to help!"

"I know! I heard the scream! What is wrong-"

"PERCY JACKSON!" a girl screamed from behind, panting as she approached the two of them, "Stop running so fast! I can't-" she stopped as soon as she saw the expression on Juniper's face, "What happened?"

"Nico! He's dying! And there's a girl-"

"Juniper, go inform Chiron" Percy interrupted, "Annabeth and I are going to check on Nico, alright?"

"But-"

"There's no time," Annabeth spoke, "Just go!" She didn't mean to sound like she was commanding, but this was serious. She didn't even waited for Juniper's response as she took Percy's hand and the two of them ran deeper into the forest.

Annabeth stopped so suddenly that Percy bumped into her, hard.

"Annabeth, what the Hades-"

"Shh!" Annabeth shushed him and pulled him down, hiding behind a blue berry bush, "Can't you feel it?"

"Feel wha-" Percy started, but a sudden chill ran through his body. He reached into his pocket for Riptide. There was something powerful here, he could feel it. Good or bad he could not tell, but something wrong. He slowly stood up, trying to see whatever was in front of them. He felt Annabeth's hands trembling on his shoulder, and turned back and mouthed _It's okay _to her.

He knew why she was so afraid. This was no ordinary power, it was strong indeed, but at the same time _ancient_. Like the giants themselves, no, even older than that. His curse of Achilles not only gave him an invincible body (Okay, maybe except that point), but also sharper sense about godly powers.

He peeked over the bushes and his green eyes widened as he saw what was there. Nico. He was lying on the ground, his clothes torn, bleeding everywhere.

"Nico!" he yelled and immediately loosen his grip on Annabeth's hand, coming out from the bushes, running towards the boy on the ground.

Annabeth yelled something behind him but he couldn't listen. Nico di Angelo was lying there dying, and he had to do something. Anything.

Just then a flash of silver flickered at the edge of his eyes, he turned his head and stopped dead. There was a girl. She was staring blankly at him with those Golden eyes, and he couldn't help but notice how similar they were to Luke's. Kronos's, he corrected himself, Luke Castellan has blue eyes.

"It's her," he heard Annabeth's voice murmured behind him, "The power-"

"I know…" Percy's voice was shaking too. This girl was the source of that enormous power. Was this the girl that harmed Nico? Don't jump to conclusions, he heard a voice in his head. But there's no one else here, he defended. He uncapped Riptide and the pen grew into a celestial bronze sword. He pointed it at the girl, "Who- Who are you?"

The girl didn't answer. She just kept that blank stare on him. He saw the tears in the corner of her eyes.

"I think-" Annabeth whispered, "Maybe we should wait for Chiron-"

"But what if she was the one who did this to Nico?"

Annabeth bit her lips, "I don't think-"

"Annabeth Chase. The Son of Hades is lying there dying. The only other living thing here is the girl over there and she was a weapon in her hand. Give me a reasonable explanation."

"Maybe some monster-"

"Do you think any monster in the forest is able to defeat Nico di Angelo?"

Annabeth went silence, but Percy got a feeling that she is not convinced. He sighed, and lowered his sword. Annabeth looked at him in surprise. Percy met her glance and spoke, "I trust you, Wise Girl."

Annabeth's gray eyes widened, and then she squeezed his hand, "Let me handle this. You can go check on Nico."

Percy nodded, "Don't forget your dagger, just in case."

"I know," she said, and she slowly walked to the girl. She was trembling hard. Calm down, she told herself repeatedly, you can handle this.

She kneeled down beside the girl and took her hand, "Hey, I'm Annabeth Chase, I'm here to help you." No response.

She tried again, "Can you tell me your name?" Still no response.

She inhaled deeply and staggered backwards a little. This was getting creepy. She couldn't stop noticing the ancient power coming off from the girl, and those Golden eyes were so similar to the Titan Lord's. Almost too similar.

Annabeth shivered, and continued to talk to the not responding girl.

Someone was talking to Melanie, but she couldn't make out the sound. The world was slowly turning back to focus, and her eyes barely made out a human figure in front of her. She blinked, and the girl immediately jumped back.

She could see clearly now. The girl in front of her had curly blonde hair, and was wearing an orange T-shirt with black words that said… Pacm Lahf oLoBd? Her stormy gray eyes were filled with… confusion, shock, and… fear? She heard her call a name, Percy, and a black haired guy came running over.

"Can you hear me?" the boy asked, and Melanie nodded. _He had pretty green eyes_, she thought.

"Annabeth," he turned to the girl, "Get Nico to Camp, I got this."

Nico? The name was familiar. The blonde girl nodded and scrambled away, the terrified look never leaving her face. What did I do? Melanie asked herself. The memories were blurry. Dark, monsters, blood…

"It's ok," the guy named Percy comforted her, and she realized she had said the last few words out loud.

"I- I don't know-" and she stopped as the body of the bleeding boy entered her sight. Then the events hit her – so fast that she gasped. Roof. Boy named Nico. Shadow travel. Nico. Fight monsters. Silence. Two headed dog. The hairclip. Nico.

The girl started talking so fast that Percy could barely make out what she was saying. Something about meeting a two headed monster? And why in the world would Nico shadow travel straight into the forest instead of somewhere safer? He's gotta question the kid later. The girl, Melanie, had stopped talking and was now looking at Percy for an answer. The sun was slowly rising, and the powerful dangerous aura around her was gone now. She just looked like a regular half-blood. The I-Just-Got-Attacked-By-Monsters kind. Yep, totally normal.

"We'll get you to The Big House first. Usually Chiron does the explaining, but you look like you don't need any," Percy answered to her questioning look.

The girl nodded, "And Nico? He'll be alright?"

"I think so…" but his tone clearly showed that he was not sure. That monster she described… it sounded so familiar. Not any monster could take down di Angelo like that. Not even by surprise. He's gotta talk to Annabeth about this later. She'll definitely know.

Chiron was playing Poker with Mr. D when the three of them came in.

"Ugh, more demigods," Mr. D sighed dramatically and put down the cards in his hands, "Tell me when this is over."

"Dionysius?" Melanie asked before Percy and Annabeth could say anything.

Mr. D raised an eyebrow, "This one knows a lot."

"She's a special case, Mr. D," Annabeth said, "She already knows her background."

For a moment Dionysius seemed like he wanted to ask something, but then he just waved his hand, "Whatever. Inform me later, Chiron."

"Sure," the centaur sighed, and turned to the three demigods as Mr. D disappeared in a puff of purple air.

"He was a weird way of leaving," Melanie concluded.

"Most Gods do," Chiron agreed, "Annabeth, Percy, you guys could leave now."

"Ok," Percy took Annabeth's hand and together they left the room.

There was a long pause.

"So now," Chiron said, "I take it that you know who I am?"

"Chiron, the centaur, the one that trained many heroes." Melanie answered with confidence.

Chiron nodded, "And you've known the existence of Gods for a long time?"

"Yeah, my ancestor, Florence Nightingale, left a letter explaining her situation. My family has attracted quite a few Gods since then. Many of us have the blood of multiple gods, some strong, some weak. But either way, it attracted a lot of monsters and most of them died at a young age."

"But you didn't. And that is because…?"

Melanie bit her lips, "I don't know. Very few monsters actually came to attack me. I fought of the few that did, but it didn't make sense, because I was never the best fighter of the family."

For a moment Chiron seemed lost in thought, then he raised his head and looked straight into her golden eyes. "Very well," Chiron nodded, "I'll find someone to show you around Camp-"

That was when the door flung open and Nico di Angelo appeared.


	3. Chapter 3

Chiron startled a little when the wounded Son of Hades literally blasted into the room. Okay, maybe not THAT literally. The door was now squeaking and threatening to fall apart any moment. Seriously, don't anyone ever teach these kids to "handle with care"?

"Nico-o," Melanie stuttered, "Why are you-"

"MELANIE NIGHATSHADE HOW DARE YOU LEAVE ME LIKE THAT I WAS SO FREAKIN WORRIED WHEN YOU WERE NOT THER WHEN I WOKE UP AND-"

"Calm down, Nico," Chiron managed to cut him in mid-air, "I believe our girl here has no intention to make you worry so much."

His dark black eyes met his, and quickly looked back to Melanie, "Explain."

"From where?"

"Everything. Tell me everything after I lost conscious. "

So she did, from describing the two-headed dog to the exploding dagger up until how Annabeth and Percy found them in the woods and carried them back here.

Nico was grabbing on the chair so tight that his knuckles were turning white. It's impossible, the beast couldn't have been-

"Orthrus," the familiar sound of a certain grey-eyed girl appeared behind him. Nico immediately spun around and found himself facing Annbeth and Percy.

"But that's impossible!" He exclaimed, "Orthrus was a good dog!"

"Um," Percy started uneasily, "Have you forgotten the fact that he had tried to eat me when I first met him?"

"But that was before Eurytion turned good!"

"People don't just turn good or turn bad so fast," Annabeth stated, and exchanged a look with Chiron.

"Are you saying-" Nico argued, but was cut off by Annabeth.

"Just give us a moment with Chiron, okay?"

"Uh, sure," Melanie rose uneasily from her chair. It seemed like most people had forgotten the fact that she was actually there.

Nico gave Annabeth a I-can't-believe-you-are-excluding-me glance, where she replied with just-shut-up-and-show-the-new-girl-around. Behind her, Percy gave him a sorry smile and a I'll-fill-you-in-later look.

Nico sighed and grabbed Melanie's hand and stormed out of the house, and as he did, he couldn't control the urge to land a heavy punch on something.

Unfortunately, the door was in the way.

"Not that!" Chiron exclaimed, but it was too late.

The door crumbled, and the Son of Hades left without even a glance back.

"Are you sure that's okay?" Melanie asked quietly after Nico lead her out of the house.

Nico's hands tensed and then relaxed. Melanie sudden realized they were still holding hands, but Nico seemed too occupied with his thought to notice anything.

He sighed, "Annabeth always like to keeps things away from me."

"Why?" she asked. She had personally thought that the Annabeth girl was a pretty nice person, considering the fact that she had saved Nico's life. Well, sort of. If she and Percy hasn't arrived, Nico would probably have died now.

"I don't know. I thought she liked me, um, I don't mean that kind of like, but like, um, yeah." He turned to Melanie to make sure she got what he meant. She nodded to assure him. "She used to be sort of like a sister, but I think after she discovered the truth about my powers, she was kind of-"

"Afraid?"

"Something like that."

"But isn't Percy also-"

"You figured?" Nico stared at her in surprise, how could she tell who was Percy's godly parent so fast?

"Well, with those sea green eyes…" Melanie's thought wondered to the first time she saw them, swirling like the waves, so strange yet beautiful at the same time.

"And Annabeth?"

"Athena?" she guessed.

"So you knew I was the Son of Hades when we first met?"

"Pretty much. I guessed Hecate at first, but you didn't seem too magical."

_I guessed Hecate too_, Nico thought. _Wait, if she guessed Hecate and I turned out to be Hades, could she be-_ Nico swallowed the thought. For some reason he felt like having Melanie as his sister wasn't what he wanted. It wasn't that he dislikes her, of course, and it wasn't that it would remind him of Bianca – Melanie was younger than her. Too different from Bianca. Besides, he already has Hazel for that.

And plus, Hades kids have pitch black eyes, not the shimmering midnight blue kind. Not to mention those silvery blonde locks. He had first thought her hair color was silver, but somehow it looked more platinum blonde today. Maybe it had something to do with the sunlight.

"Nico?" Melanie's voice interrupted his thoughts, and he realized that they had walked back to his cabin.

"Yeah?" Nico stepped forward and opened the door naturally, as he turned back to see that Melanie was standing awkwardly at the entrance.

"Uh- Am I allowed to?" She asked unsurely.

"Allowed to what?" He looked at her and then back to where he was standing, "Oh." Campers were allowed into other cabins too, right? But why did this felt so awkward? Ah yes. This was the Hades Cabin after all. No one ever came in. Except himself and Hazel. Not even Annabeth, she just stood at the entrance and check the inside designs from there. "I guess it's okay."

_Um, dad, please don't blast her into pieces, okay?_ He did a silent prayer, just in case.

Melanie took a hesitant step inside. Nothing happened. At least that was what it seemed like that moment. But it was only a moment.

Five seconds after Melanie stepped into the Hades Cabin the ground started rumbling, the door snapped shut, and curtains immediately closed (there wasn't much of them to close, consider there were only two windows. As you can probably tell, Hades kids don't really like brightness too much.).

Melanie grabbed Nico's arm for support, and she really, really, didn't mean anything else. (Or did she?)

"I see you have brought a guest." A deep, dark voice boomed behind the two of them, as they immediately spun around and found themselves facing a ghostly white man black silk robes, with the same dark hair and eyes.

"Fa-father-" Nico was actually stammering.

Melanie looked straight as those haunting eyes – eyes so deep that they seemed like endless pits, like you could stare into them forever. She knew that she was supposed to be frightened and even scream of something like that, but for some reason she didn't. She could almost feel her own body drawing energy from the black mist that swirled beside him. "Lord Hades," she said calmly, and curtsied. (Although how can you curtsy with a mini-skirt, I do not know.)

Nico didn't mean to sound scared. In fact, he wasn't, not for himself anyways. He was just afraid that his father would blast the girl next to her into pieces.

So of course he was shocked when Melanie didn't even trembled the tiniest bit. And of course he was even more shocked when she had curtsied so calmly and spoke with a perfectly normal tone.

Lord Hades studied Melanie for a few seconds. "Interesting," he finally concluded, "Although I probably shouldn't be surprised due to the women who gave birth to you."

"Who was my mother?" Melanie asked, her eyes never leaving the dark lord's.

"That, I'm afraid, you'll have to find out on your own." Hades replied, a faint smile playing on the edge of his lips. "And now, since you've entered my Cabin-" he raised one of his hands-

"Father!" Nico exclaimed, "My prayer! Please do not-"

"Yes, I've heard it." Hades waved at his son impatiently, "I was simply going to take our guest on a little trip."

"But-" Nico protested, and was soon interrupted my Melanie.

"It's okay," she put her hand on his arm to reassure him, which sent him blushing, again. Sometimes he really wished that his skin wasn't that pale. Or that he wasn't so sensitive to a female's touch. Wait, why is he thinking about this right now anyways? He looked back at Melanie, who was now raising a questioning eyebrow to Hades.

"So?" Melanie asked, with clearly no sign of fear in her tone.

Hades answered with another creepy smile, and snapped his fingers.

This time, her eyes rolled back and her body immediately collapsed.

"Father!" Nico managed to catch her before her head bumped onto the black, marble ground.

"No need to worry son, I just sent her on a dream."

Nico still looked at his dad in disbelief, but the anger in his eyes ceased a little. He slowly put Melanie's body onto one of the beds.

"I actually quite like this one," Hades concluded after the strange silence between the two of them looking at the sleeping girl.

Nico didn't reply, just stared back at him,_ and so_?

Hades shrugged his shoulders, "Well, she's welcome to come here as long as she wants."

"I don't think making a people faint three minutes after they step in fills too _welcome_," Nico replied in a sarcastic tone.

"The dream is a gift, my son." Hades responded.

"Is that so? So you wouldn't mind telling me what it is about, then." Nico stared back at his father.

"Of course I wouldn't mind." His answer shocked Nico, but he ignored it and went on, "Although I have to say it is kind of private, but still, if you insist," he raised his hands.

"Wait!"

"Don't blame me if she gets mad at you sharing her dreams," Hades smiled, and snapped his fingers.

"I said wait-" But it was too late. The bright snapping echoed through the entire cabin, and the boy's voice was drowned in the heavy mist and the dark hissing sounds of unknown spirits.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Hey, guys, really sorry for the super long delay TT Several things were going on and it was just hard for me to find time to write. I would have updated even later but I know some of you have been waiting for a long time. Anyways, I'm doing this especially for Ash Nightshadow :D Thank you again for your awesome review!

Enjoy.

* * *

><p>Her body was drifting, drifting, drifting, through the endless blackness. It wasn't entirely pitch back, but more like a midnight type of black, mixed with deep blue. The air was clearly chilling around her, but still, she didn't feel cold at all.<p>

A distant voice sounded, "My daughter." The voice was gentle, soothing, but mysterious at the same time, like it was covered with a layer of mist.

"Mother?" Melanie called out, uncertain. Her voice was shaking slightly, but rather due to excitement. She had never felt more powerful than right now, with the strange aura around her. A small cloud of mist enveloped her and swirled around like the way planets are attracted to a star.

The voice didn't response, but a layer of memory washed over her, like someone had inserted a DVD and pushed play against her will.

_A patch of sunlight shone over the tiny crib where __a baby__ laid, and she squinted her eyes trying to avoid it. She hated the sunlight, it made her feel so powerless and weak._

_Suddenly, she felt a wave of darkness wash over room, and all the lights__ suddenly dimmed__. A woman approached the crib, and she realized that that was where all the energy went. Any light that shone on the women slowly became dimmer, until they disappeared entirely._

_Night has arrived._

_The woman bent down and she could now finally see her face. She had golden shimmering eyes, like the stars in the night sky, and her black, wavy hair fell across her shoulder like waterfalls. Her image was fuzzy, however. The long sleeved black dress she wore was fumbling like a wave of mist, and the edges simple dissolved in the air. The woman gave her a small sad smile, and leaned down to __give her a quick __kiss __on her__ forehead. The kiss was cold, but energy flowed through her immediately. She smiled back at the woman, not knowing why exactly._

"_Nixie," a man's voice came from the other side. She turned her head and saw a man in a __bottom-up shirt and simple jeans. He was leaning in front of a telescope, trying to look through the lenses. _

"_Ian," the woman turned from the crib and walked towards the man. He gently pulled her in for a hug. She smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. The stars in the sky seemed to shine just a bit brighter._

_Suddenly, a roar of thunder blasted though the night sky, and both of them jumped. The dreamy look was immediately wiped out of the woman's face. She turned and spoke in a serious tone, "Ian. I'm not here for this! Our child… The gods are getting angry…"_

"_I know…" the man named Ian looked down and sighed, "Such terrible fate awaits her."_

_Nixie's expression pained, "It's all my fault… I should have stayed back down in Tarturus…"_

"_Nixie! Don't say that!" Ian's eyebrows were all knotted together, "We'll figure out something… The Gods, even Zeus is afraid of you, right?" A roaring thunder responded, much closer this time. _

"_I… It's a stalemate. I can't over power all of the Gods right now, a huge part of me is still sleeping under Tarturus. But still, the Gods know well enough not the mess with me." The woman couldn't stop smiling with pride as the last sentence came out from her mouth. But as soon as the loud baby cry broke through the room, the frown immediately returned. _

"_I… I have to go. I cannot stay. This is the only way, for the sake of our daughter's safety," she said quickly, drew herself away from Ian, and hurried towards the door._

"_Nixie!" Ian yelled after her, searching desperately in his mind anything that could make her stay. But nothing came up. Nothing. Her words made perfect sense. The argument was unmovable. Like the stars in the night sky that has never changed throughout the billions and zillions of years._

_The woman turned back once before she turned the doorknob, with a sad smile on her face. She took one last glance at the baby and Ian, and opened the door. As she stepped outside, a piece of the sky tore itself off and enveloped the woman. And then it floated back to the sky and filled the empty hole, like nothing had happened. A star blinked in the night sky._

Long-Short-Long Short Short Short-Long-Long-Short

Short-Short-Short-Short Short Short-Long-Short

Short-Short-Short Short-Long Short-Short-Long-Short Short

_A long pause._

Short-Short

Short-Long-Short-Short Long-Long-Long Short-Short-Short-Long Short

Long-Short-Long-Long Long-Long-Long Short-Short-Long

_A tear trickled down Ian's face._

Melanie realized something wet was in the corner of her eyes, too. The "eject" button has already been pushed, but somehow it was like her brain had burned in the entire DVD and was now pressing "replay" on its own like crazy. She blinked and tried to adjust to the sight around her. Black beds, black curtains, black walls. The Hades Cabin…?

A hand came out of nowhere and gently wiped the tears off her face. She jumped back in surprise, only finding herself bumping into someone else.

She turned, blinking out the tears in her eyes, straining to see. A pair of black eyes met hers.

"Ni…Nico?"

The boy nodded, and patted her shoulder to comfort her. But it was no use. The tears kept coming like a broken dam, flooding out. There was no stop.

"Hey… Melanie… It's alright…" she heard the boy whispering into her ear in a low voice.

"You… won't… under… stand…" she managed to push the words out between sniffs.

"I do." The boy said, looking down at the crying girl. It was heart-breaking, to see someone like this. Instinctively, he reached out to her and drew her in into a hug. He felt her body tense a bit but then soften up again, and putting her head onto his shoulder, the loud cry slowly became quiet sobbing. "I do," he whispered into her ears again, "Being the Son of Hades, you think I don't have any idea about rejection?"

"You… you saw it…?" her head now raised up to look at him.

The boy nodded, admitting. "I… sorry."

"It's… okay…" she bit her lips hard, trying to stop herself from sniffing.

They stood there a long time in silence, waiting for Melanie to pull herself back together. Finally, she took a deep breath, and forced the "Off" button to her imaginary DVD player.

Nico took this as a sign of she's ready. "So… your mother… she's really…?"

Melanie nodded, the same golden in her eyes like the blinking star near the end of the playback.

Nico restricted a gasp. Knowing something all along was one thing, hearing someone say it out loud was another.

He held out his hand, and glanced at the door, "We need to tell Chiron."

Melanie nodded again, and took his hand.

Together they ran out of the Hades Cabin. As the door opened, sunlight poured in, but the Cabin remained its darkness, unchanged.

Something was wrong with Camp Half-Blood. It was seven-thirty in the morning, usually you'd see satyrs running around and campers fighting each other. But today it seemed like everything was covered with a layer of dust. Gloomy campers drifted around, no one was smiling.

They were both feeling uneasy, but they have no time to stop for this right now. Running across camp, they finally reached The Big House. The place where the door had been was now replaced by a piece of cloth, looking oddly new compared to the rest of the building.

Nico took a deep breath and called out, "Chiron?"

A few seconds later, the old centaur came out greeting them with a tiring smile, "Hey Nico, Melanie. Anything I can help you two with?"

"You see, Chiron, we found out that-" Nico paused, looking at the old centaur who was now yawning, "Are you alright?" He had never seen Chiron so low on energy.

"Yeah," he managed a weak smile, "But last night sure was quite a mess."

"What happened last night?" Melanie asked, clearly surprised.

"You two don't know?" Chiron raised an eyebrow, "Weird, it was quite loud."

"What was?"

Chiron sighed, "Well, last night almost every camper were having nightmares, there were screams breaking out everywhere and-" He raised his head and was greeted by two totally blank faces. He paused, "You really don't know?"

The two of them shook their heads.

"Maybe this has something to what happened last night in the Hades Cabin…" Nico muttered.

"I doubt it's your dad's fault though," Melanie said with an uneasy feeling.

"Why? You know that my dad gives people nightmares-" Nico paused, realizing what Melanie meant as soon as that word slipped his mouth, "Oh."

"Wait, slow down, what are the two of you talking about? Lord Hades visited last night? And-"

"Chiron," Nico interrupted, "There is only one thing that's important here." He gestured at Melanie.

"I," Melanie started, and took a deep breath, "am the Daughter of Nyx."


End file.
